Federal Legislation
Thursday, June 25, 2009

The Obama Administration, which believes that improved health care coverage for low-income Americans will help ease hunger and nutrition concerns nationwide, has allotted $635 billion in the fiscal year 2010 budget for health care. Approximately $300 billion more in savings from Medicare and Medicaid in future years would help pay for improved health care.


Additionally, President Obama has pledged to end childhood hunger in this country by 2015, in part by bolstering funding for the WIC Program. On June 11, 2009, the House Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee met to mark up a spending bill for next year, and WIC was allocated a record $7.541 billion, $681 million – or 10 percent – above fiscal year 2009 levels. Support at that level would allow the program to serve 10.1 million women and children, 300,000 more than the Administration requested.


“Food costs and participation [for WIC] continue to increase at dramatic rates for fiscal years 2009 and 2010,” noted Subcommittee chair Rosa DeLauro (D-CT). In addition to support for increased caseload, the bill sets aside $125 million for the upcoming WIC reauthorization, encompassing a number of program improvements, such as, increasing fruit and vegetable vouchers, enhancing management information systems, furthering electronic benefit transfer (EBT) technology, and expanding breast feeding peer counseling programs. The panel, however, did not replenish the WIC contingency fund, estimating that an anticipated $487 million in other discretionary funds would be available for that purpose.


As in previous years, WIC spending continued to dominate the discretionary funds category in the Agriculture budget. A little money was left over for other purposes. For example, the Subcommittee did squeeze out another $20 million for the Commodity Supplemental Food Program (CSFP), bringing total funding to $180 million for fiscal 2010, enough to allow six new states to join the program – Arkansas, Delaware, Georgia, New Jersey, Oklahoma, and Utah.


With a proposed PAYGO rule in place, however, Congress will be hard pressed to identify funds for backing other discretionary efforts, such as increasing distribution and storage funding for The Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP). TEFAP is struggling to distribute over $600 million in commodity foods this fiscal year. Although up to $100 million is authorized for TEFAP transportation next year, the full amount has never been appropriated.


Proposed Legislation



Among bills recently introduced in the 111th session of the U.S. Congress are the following:


House Resolution (H.R.) 2690: Introduced by Representatives Joe Sestak (D-PA) and two co-sponsors, the School Meal Enhancement Act would create a universal, paperless school meal program that is nationally available.


H.R. 2803: Introduced by Representative Chaka Fattah (D-PA) and two co-sponsors, the Paperless Enrollment for School Meals Act would improve paperless enrollment and efficiency for the national school lunch and school breakfast programs.


H.R. 2841: Introduced by Representative Zachary Space (D-OH) and one co-sponsor, the Promoting Charitable Actions Act would amend the Internal Revenue Code to make permanent the enhanced charitable deduction for contributions of food inventory.


Senate (S.) 1226: Introduced by Senator Robert Casey (D-PA) and two co-sponsors, the Paperless Enrollment for School Meals Act would improve paperless enrollment and efficiency for the national school lunch and school breakfast programs.


For bill summary and status information, along with the text of legislation, visit: http://thomas.loc.gov/ and enter the bill number.

Governor Pawlenty announced his intended budget cuts on Tuesday afternoon: in addition to cuts to higher education, to cities and counties, the Governor announced another $236 million in cuts to human services. In addition to the almost $500 million in cuts made by the legislature and the $380 million the governor eliminated for health care for the poorest adults, the cuts to Health and Human Services will now total more than $1 billion.



As the numbers of uninsured grow, the Governor intends to pull health care coverage from the poorest adults even sooner than was already planned. And in the midst of the worst housing crisis in generations, he is eliminating funds to help disabled and unemployable adults avoid homelessness – while also cutting funds that pay for homeless shelters and housing for the long-term homeless. The Governor’s cuts target children in a number of ways: less money to help collect child support for children in poor households; to serve children and teens who are abused or disabled, and specifically a cut to services for American Indian children who are abused or neglected.



In addition low income renters – 28% of whom are poor and disabled – will have their renters’ credit reduced. The renters credit is a refund that to almost 274,000 Minnesota renters whose property taxes makes up a large share of their income. There is more information about the renters credit at the MN Budget Project website at http://www.mncn.org/bp/renterscredit.htm.



The cuts in Human Services include:

· Ending the General Assistance Medical Care program that the Governor eliminated by line item veto even earlier than his veto required – March 1, 2010 instead of mid-May;

· The elimination of two emergency assistance programs for poor disabled and unemployable adults without children (Emergency General Assistance and Emergency MSA);

· Cutting payments to homeless shelters, housing for the long-term homeless and board and lodging facilities that offer special services (through Group Residential Housing payments);

· Mental health and chemical dependency grants are cut.



There are no cuts proposed to the Minnesota Family Investment Program, Minnesota’s welfare to work program. The complete list of the cuts Governor Pawlenty intends to make are at http://www.mmb.state.mn.us/doc/budget/unallotment/unallotment_2009.pdf.



The Governor is making the cuts through a process called “unallotment”. He had vowed to do so when he vetoed a bill the legislature sent him that would have balanced the state budget by raising revenue. Before the unallotments are official, the Governor must consult with the Legislative Advisory Council. The consultation is only advisory – the Governor need not heed their advice. The council – whose members include the Speaker of the House, the Senate Majority Leader and the chairs of the two House and Senate finance committees – will meet at 3 p.m. on Thursday at the Capitol.



Affirmative Options will keep members updated on the unallotment process – including whether any lawsuits are filed to challenge the unallotments.